Gaming Notes
There was an exciting post (in my world, at least) over at Plastic Axe about the Rock Band Network, and it featured two videos of Rock Band Network tracks: Flogging Molly and Bill Bruford's Earthworks.The video by BBE is particularly interesting, because it's a jazz band, and the song is terrific--I can't wait to play it in Rock Band. As noted in the post, the "guitar" track is the piano line, and the "vocal" track is the sax line. I love the idea of different genres that are either under-represented or not represented at all in the Rock Band catalog now being available to play, and I would happily pay for the privilege.
If you're wondering how Dark Void turned out, then Rock, Paper, Shotgun has you covered with their withering wit (that doesn't sound right, but I mean they're quite funny). It's a group impressions post, and I think we can conclude at this point that Dark Void is the first massive disappointment of the year, unfortunately.
Well, someone had to be first. Moving on.
If you play sports games, you know that the MLB2K series has been an embarrassment for several years now. Terrible bugs, crappy framerate, and inconsistent design have combined to make this one of the worst franchises out there.
MLB2K10 is coming out soon, and with zero buzz and record levels of skepticism about the game, 2K Sports announced a contest today that will pay $1 million to the first person who throws a perfect game in MLB2K10.
That's genius. Instead of adding eight or ten programmers to the game for a full year (which could theoretically improve the quality of the game), they decide on a shitty promotional stunt instead. Well-done.
If you're thinking that it won't cost them a million, because they could just buy insurance, how could they buy insurance for something that has a 100% chance of happening?
Think about it. There's roughly a perfect game every decade in real baseball, and there are about 2,500 games a year. That's 25,000 games a decade. It's incredibly unlikely (unless the game is rigged) that the chances for a perfect game are lower than in real life. How long do you think it will take for 25,000 games of MLB2K10 to be played?
Yes, there are special requirements (the game has to be videotaped, for one), but anyone who's good is going to be taping their games. I'm willing to bet that a perfect game is thrown in the first week--unless, like I said, the game is rigged to prevent it from happening.
<< Home